The New York Times
In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud
By ERIC LIPTON and IAN URBINA
April 12, 2007
WASHINGTON, April 11 — Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.
Although Republican activists have repeatedly said
fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and,
possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people
have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.
Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show.
Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have
mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules,
a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.
...
"I find this whole prosecution mysterious," Judge Diane P. Wood
of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago,
said at a hearing in Ms. Prude’s case. "I don’t know whether
the Eastern District of Wisconsin goes after every felon
who accidentally votes. It is not like she voted five times.
She cast one vote."
The Justice Department stand is backed by Republican Party and
White House officials, including Karl Rove,
the president’s chief political adviser.
The White House has acknowledged that he relayed Republican complaints
to President Bush and the Justice Department that some prosecutors
were not attacking voter fraud vigorously.
In speeches, Mr. Rove often mentions fraud accusations
and warns of tainted elections.
Voter fraud is a highly polarized issue, with Republicans asserting
frequent abuses and Democrats contending that
the problem has been greatly exaggerated to promote
voter identification laws that could inhibit the turnout by poor voters.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
-----
So why is this latest DOJ Finding Important?
Shouldn't we just be relieved that "Voter Fraud" is not really
a big problem in this Country?
Well yes that IS good news! It deserves Front Page Headlines everywhere!
Especially considering the fact that Republicans
have used this charge of "Voter Fraud" over and over again
as a way to "protest" or otherwise skew election results.
Just look at what happened to 2 fired US Attorneys who
refused to go along with this shop-worn GOP Tactic...
----------
The New York Times
Phony Fraud Charges
March 16, 2007
Editorial
In its fumbling attempts to explain the purge of United States attorneys,
the Bush administration has argued that the fired prosecutors
were not aggressive enough about addressing VOTER FRAUD.
It is a phony argument; there is no evidence that
any of them ignored real instances of voter fraud.
But more than that, it is a window on what may be a major reason
for some of the firings.
In partisan Republican circles, the pursuit of VOTER FRAUD IS CODE
for suppressing the votes of minorities and poor people.
By resisting pressure to crack down on "fraud,"
the fired United States attorneys actually appear to
have been standing up for the integrity of the election system.
John McKay, one of the fired attorneys, says he was pressured
by Republicans to bring voter fraud charges after
the 2004 Washington governor’s race, which a Democrat, Christine Gregoire,
won after two recounts.
Republicans were trying to overturn an election result they did not like,
but Mr. McKay refused to go along. "There was no evidence," he said,
"and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury."
Later, when he interviewed with Harriet Miers, then the White House counsel,
for a federal judgeship that he ultimately did not get,
he says, he was asked to explain "criticism that I mishandled
the 2004 governor’s election."
...
Mr. McKay is not the only one of the federal attorneys
who may have been brought down for refusing to pursue dubious voter fraud cases.
Before David Iglesias of New Mexico was fired,
prominent New Mexico Republicans reportedly complained repeatedly
to Karl Rove about Mr. Iglesias’s failure to indict Democrats for voter fraud.
The White House said that last October, just weeks before Mr. McKay
and most of the others were fired, President Bush complained
that United States attorneys were not pursuing voter fraud aggressively enough.
There is no evidence of rampant voter fraud in this country.
Rather, Republicans under Mr. Bush have used such allegations
as an excuse to suppress the votes of Democratic-leaning groups.
They have intimidated Native American voter registration campaigners
in South Dakota with baseless charges of fraud.
They have pushed through harsh voter ID bills in states
like Georgia and Missouri, both blocked by the courts,
that were designed to make it hard for people who lack drivers’ licenses —
who are disproportionately poor, elderly or members of minorities — to vote.
Florida passed a law placing such onerous conditions
on voter registration drives, which register many members
of minorities and poor people, that the League of Women Voters of Florida
suspended its registration work in the state.
...
The United States attorney purge appears to have been prompted
by an array of improper political motives. Carol Lam,
the San Diego attorney, seems to have been fired to stop her
from continuing an investigation that put Republican officials
and campaign contributors at risk. These charges,
like the accusation that Mr. McKay and other United States attorneys
were insufficiently aggressive about voter fraud,
are a way of saying, without actually saying,
that they would not use their offices to help Republicans win elections.
It does not justify their firing; it makes their firing a graver offense.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
---------
So it seems to me there is undue focus, by this Administration
on Voter Fraud, as an essential Voting Issue. Why is that?
Could it be that another "Mis-Direction" or "Bait-and-Switch" Trick
has once again been played on the very forgetful American public?
While the DOJ has been busy chasing down the execeedingly rare "Voter Fraud" case,
the other real issue of "Election Fraud" has quietly slipped by,
off the radar -- as "last year's news", or worse yet,
just simply the fodder for conspiracy crackpots and cranks.
I would contend the issue of "Election Fraud"
should rank right up there with "Rescuing the Constitution"
and "Restoring Democracy" from an Administration who often views
each office of Government as just another "Political Tool".
An Administration who routinely uses Executive "Signing Statements"
to put themselves "above the law," and to escape Accountablity.
Doesn't the issue of "Election Fraud" finally deserve another sober look:
----------
What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report
http://www.truthout.org/...
http://www.buzzflash.com/...
---
Too many voting "irregularities" to be coincidence
Bar Graphs of Exit Poll vs Actual Results
Huge Statastical Anomolies occurred, BUT only in Swing States,
and only in favor of Candidate Bush, and at the expense of Candidate Kerry's Votes.
The Odds of such "targeted anomolies" happenning "by chance" are astronomical!
"Isn’t it strange that all of these ’anomalies’ in the exit polls
and touchscreen machines always seem to favor Bush?"
http://bellaciao.org/...
---
Ohio Elections ex-officials get 18-month sentences
Convicted of rigging 2004 county recount
http://www.cleveland.com/...
---
Diebold Programmer Ken Clark,
explains in an email to a supervisor,
the numerous security problems that exist
in the Diebold Vote Counting Program GEMS
Here's summary of those known security problems:
[See: Appendix A: Excerpts from Diebold internal memos/documents]
- Alteration of GEMS data files with an unapproved product (MS-Access) is common both among Diebold staff and county elections personnel.
- Ken Clark knew about that, and deliberately avoided tightening down security to eliminate the practice because it's "handy".
- Ken admits having the ability to hack elections(!). That means somebody else in Diebold can.
- Ken knew that relying on "operating system security" was inadequate, yet suggested telling the Federal test lab that it was. [was adequate]
This all adds up to intent to defraud.
http://www.equalccw.com/...
-------------
Funny how important those obscure "trivial emails" can be!
No issue now, is SO important, yet SO under-reported
as that of preventing "Election Fraud" from hijacking
yet another Election.
While we all busy ourselves with the urgency of finding and supporting
the "Best Candidate", one who will help this country turn over a new leaf, and start anew...
Shouldn't we each spend a few hours ensuring that "the Will of the American People"
will not be thwarted? That the voice of the People is backed up by a verifiable Paper Trail?
Shoot, even ATM Machines, give you a paper receipt--
Why should we accept anything less from those machines that tally our votes?
I do not jest about the urgency here, though others in Government might:
----
On Election Day 2004, well before results were in,
(when early Exit Polls were showing John Kerry as the presumptive winner)
on the White House lawn, alongside President Bush,
Repsentative Peter King (R-NY) confidentially quipped:
Peter King: "It's already over, the Election's over. We won."
Interviewer: "How do you know that?"
Peter King: "It's all over but the Counting --
and we'll take care of the Counting!"
http://www.youtube.com/...
Here's the same clip -- raw video only (no editing):
http://www.youtube.com/...
----
I guess obscure off-handed video clips
can sometimes be important too?
A Paper Trail for Every Vote,
and non-partisan Open and Secure Programming Code -- for Every E-Voting Machine --
They matter -- Big Time!